What a difference a day makes. Long gone are the nice temperatures of the last few days. Now, we are back to below normal. Today was absolutely brutal. It was probably the worst day of the winter thus far and it has already been a bad year.
I rested most of the afternoon and got out around 4 PM. The plan was 10 easy miles around the neighborhoods. My car had a light go on for low tire pressure and I didn't feel like checking it out, so I had to run from home. That worked out good because I could get back around dinner time too.
I wasn't sure what to wear at first, but I was sure glad with the choice I made. I had on the fleece vest over top of my ColdGear top and long pants. I had gloves and a headband on too. At times, that wasn't even enough.
I headed out and began with a short loop in the neighborhood across from the school. I saw two women walking and was impressed to see them 40 minutes later too. Not many people are crazy enough to be out in the cold. Come to think of it, I almost never see anyone running these neighborhoods in the winter. Of course I do run at kind of weird times too.
Some of this part of the run was brutal with the wind in my face. Going the other direction, it was calm and nearly perfect. That was the theme of the run. When it was nice, I didn't want to sweat too much, so I removed my headband. It went on and off throughout the run.
As I headed toward the main loop, snow flurries began. That was kind of pretty, but I was running into it, so I was freezing. I ran out over another mile and then did another short loop that I like. It is about a mile long too. Things were working out good. It looked like over half of the run would be done when I got back to the school.
I ran a lot last night, but the legs felt pretty good today. It is amazing how well they seem to recover now. They weren't strong and didn't feel fast, but the soreness I had was only minor. My body is definitely getting used to the crazy demands I put on it. Still, I do need to hit the trails again some time, to lessen the impact.
Coming back to the school was nice because the wind was mainly at my back. However, I knew it would suck once I ran into the other neighborhood on the side of the school. That would be brutal on the way out and better on the way back. As I entered that neighborhood, I was at mile 6. It seemed like a slow run, but the pace was typical. Most miles were under 8:30.
I went out to the small industrial park and then came back. I was around 8 miles when I headed for home. I knew this would be the most difficult stretch. It was a long hill with a strong headwind. It was so hard to get through and some of the toughest conditions that I've run in in a long time. It was also getting quite dark and I was dressed in dark clothes. Luckily, that neighborhood is lightly traveled.
Turning the corner and heading back to the school was great. I got back there and to the parking lot with .2 miles remaining. I planned this route out perfectly. It is good that I know a lot of these distances by now. I looped around a small section of the lot a few times. I needed the lights to see when my run was done.
I'm sure there will be a few days colder than this throughout winter, but this is about as close to the worst conditions possible that you can get. It was great to get through the run. I feel tougher after battling the cold and wind. Suffering through these winter runs will make me so much stronger and make my spring racing awesome.
Tomorrow, I'm hoping for 15 to 20 more miles. Someone from the BCR was talking about running in the morning. It sure would be nice to have some company for my run (at least parts of it). If that doesn't happen, then I'll be running on my own. That would mostly likely happen in the afternoon, when my sister leaves after Christmas lunch. I hope for a good holiday.
10 miles - 1:23:23 (8:20 pace)
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